Title: Jane, did you know?

"Jane, did you know the space shuttle Atlantis was launched May 4th, 1989?" Asked eight and a half year old Jerry, who happily sat Indian stile on the flour and flipping through pages of a book.

"No." Came the court reply from his older sister by 5 years. She was lying across the living room flour on her stomach, glancing through articles in a

magazine on teen-age boy bands.

"Jane, did you know that Apollo 13 wasn't a very successful space craft?" Jerry probed and stretched his legs out in front of him as he turned the page of the book.

"Of course, I watched the movie." Jane answered back, and hoped he would stop bothering her.

"Did you know that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon?"

Jane rolled on to her back and propped her legs on the sofa.

"Um..Yeah." She said after a while. Her tone wasn't in the least confident.

Jerry was quite for a while and starred blankly at his sister, while wandering about her intelligence.

Jane looked back at Jerry and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"You." He uttered while shaking his head in disgrace.

She jumped up and walked in to the kitchen angrily.

'First the questions, now the insults!' she thought with bitter contempt of her brother's attitude.

"What do you want to eat?" She growled, and rummaged through the fridge.

Knowing that their parents wouldn't be back till 10 o'clock, she decided to make dinner, then send Jerry to bed.

"PIZZA!" He cheered and ran in to the dinning room, book in tow.

She shuck her head no, "Don't have any."

"Tacos?"

"Guess again."

"How about hamburgers?"

"How about NOT!"

Jerry sighed and rested his chin in to his hands, his elbows placed on the table as he sat in his usual seat.

Poking her head back out of the refrigerator she says, "we'll have fish sticks, corn, mash potatoes and milk to drink." Then she poured frozen corn out of a plastic bag in to a bowl and stuck it in the microwave.

"Jane, did you know it's rude to ask a question, and then decide the answer?" He retorted.

"It is not." She argued and popped the fish sticks in to the oven, "my teachers do it all the time."

"What is the name of Mars's second moon?" Jerry was once again looking at the big book.

"I didn't know it had one moon." She set a plate in front of him and glanced at the book. Sure enough Mars has two moons, Phobos & Deimos.

"Jane what do you know?" He asked exasperated.

"Plenty. Like you're going to bed an hour early to night!"

The microwave bell dinged and she went to it, and got the bowl of corn out.

"Jane," he said with emphases, "do you know you will get an F on your test tomorrow?"

Jane stood still and wondered what he meant. The only test she had in the morning was on American history.

She studied the cover of the book Jerry still held in his hands. It was her History textbook.

Slowly walking back over to him, she looked at the pages that it was open to, they are in the chapter she was suppose to have studied that week on the 'space race'. Her eyes grew large with surprise, then despair.

"Want to take it for me, sense you're so smart?" ***************************** Morel: Study your homework, and your younger sib(s) will have less chances of getting the better of you.